


Abyssal Realms - Tales of the Eternal 1

by Lokly



Series: Abyssal Realms [1]
Category: No Fandoms
Genre: Deities, F/F, F/M, Fantasy, Gods, Historical Fantasy, M/M, Monsters, Multiple Worlds, Other, hints of romance, real-life events
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-08
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-14 18:15:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,539
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29920878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lokly/pseuds/Lokly
Summary: The world is but one layer of a hundred in total. And yet none of theses 99 other realms is perceived by humans. But why? What lies there that must be kept away? What is it that humans must be protected from? And will it remain so, when the world gets thrown into chaos...
Series: Abyssal Realms [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2200353
Comments: 1
Kudos: 1





	1. A few important facts before the story

**Author's Note:**

> Hi guys, just wanted to say that this is my first story, so I hope you like it.  
> Regardless of how good the reception is, I definately plan on finishing at least this first part of the story.  
> If there is enough reception, then don't worry. I've literally got enought content for 18 stories all building on each other.  
> So I hope you enjoy :)

Just a few things, you should now before you start to read:

Levels – can give a rough idea of how strong characters are, though sometimes other  
factors, like “divinity” can change this balance.

Note:  
Although a level may be called “Metropolis-Level” for example, that  
does not mean, that characters of this strength leave behind damage  
of metropolis-scale with each attack, it means that they can destroy  
an average metropolis if they use up all of their power. Most of the  
times however, fights will be of a much smaller scale and differences  
in strength will become apparent by how overpowering a character is  
when compared to another.  
The Levels:  
F – your average human

E- – Wall-Level  
E – Average House-Level  
E+ – Villa-Level 

D- – Lower House-Block-level  
D – House-Block-Level  
D+ – Higher House-Block-Level

C- – Lower Village-Level  
C – Village Level  
C+ – Higher Village-Level

B- – Lower Town-Level  
B – Town-Level  
B+ – Higher Town-Level

A- – Lower City-Level  
A – City-Level  
A+ – Higher City-Level  
A++ – Multi-City-Level

S – Lower Metropolis-Level  
S+ – Metropolis-Level  
S++ – Higher Metropolis-Level  
S+++ – Multi-Metropolis-Level

N – Nation / Island-Level  
N+ – Large Nation-Level (ex.: Germany, France)  
N++ – Multi-Nation-Level (ex.: USA, Canada, Russia, China, Australia)  
N+++ – Continent-Level (ex.: Russia and China combined)  
N++++ – Multi-Continent-Level

W- – Moon-Level ( like, literally the moon )

What are the Abyssal Realms?

In total there are 100 worlds/ dimensions that exist next to each other, but can’t interact with each other. Characters in the story can pass through them by playing with Space Warping and such.

“Earth” or “The Mortal Realm” will ALWAYS be used as the 1st Abyssal Realm for reference.  
The deeper you go ( increasing in number ), the more difficult it is for humans to exist, the 15th Realm is the Maximum. Even for humans that have received powers, there is a limit that varies from person to person and only very few can reach the 100th Realm.

Also, it is easier to always go one Realm deeper at a time and take a few steps instead of going from Earth to the 15th Realm in one go. It’s possible, but impractical.

Your standard human can perceive everything that goes on in the first 5 Realms (with Earth as no.1 here, remember!), though to them it would look someone is a ghost, if they were to be in the 3rd Realm for example.

Starting from the 10th Realm and higher, monsters inhabit the Abyssal Realms.  
Monsters come in all different strengths and are as numerous as they are diverse. They have their own form of “rulers”, though this will be explored as the story goes on. Deities, Gods, Buddhas etc. exist as well.  
A list of all monsters will come in the future….


	2. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yohan Lee, an immortak that lived for centuries is witness to a world-changing event. For the better or worse, he doesn't know...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, lets start with the stroy shall we?  
> If there is something in the chapters that seems strange or doesn't make sense, then please write it in the comments.  
> I'll try to fix it then.

August 6th 1945 – Japan – Hiroshima – Time: 9:05 o`clock

The Glass was still filled to its half with the orange-green liquid that had satiated his thirst a few hours ago. The slight stench of alcohol was still very present, though it didn’t bother him much. It was a bar after all, though he hadn`t found one before, that stayed open all the way into the morning.

He took up the glass, took a last sip, emptied it in the process and put it down on the elegantly decorated bar. He left what money he had left on the counter, gave a nod to the barkeep, an old friend of his, and prepared to leave.

To bad he thought. In but a few moments, he would leave this place for the last time.  
He had grown accustomed to it, had taken a liking in fact and felt a little bit of remorse for not warning the four people still left inside. There was nowhere they could go now that would save them though, so it really didn`t matter.

As he opened the wooden door, he took one last look at the beautiful shapes of the glasswork that was incorporated into the door.  
He rarely ever found a place such as this, which had to mean something, it came from someone with 237 years worth of experience after all. A little sigh escaped his lips, which the bartender might have noticed, were it not for the man that had just woken up from his sleep and was now singing what sounded like a few songs mixed into one in a strangely beautiful mashup that only a drunk person could create.

His voice wasn`t bad and he might have had some chances in the future. Were it not for what was to come….

He threw the thought out of his mind, concentrated on what he had planned to do. He had to leave. Now.  
As he stepped through the door, he was immediately greeted with the cold air of a summer morning. The sun didn’t show its face, nor did the rain. But the clouds seemed to have perfectly captured his own mood at this moment.

He would miss them – his current friends, his few romantic interests, as short-lived as they were. But most importantly the woman that he had watched over for such a long time. 75 years really did change your perception of another being, you just had to look carefully enough. If you did, you could discover oh so many things within them. She was a warm-hearted woman, had never supported the war, ever-hoping that it would end in the near future. She was the kind of human being that you could spend half your lifetime searching for, only to realize that there was no one such as this around you.

Had he not experienced all of this before, there would have probably been a tear rolling down his eyes.

9:12 o`clock

He went up a small hill, if you could call it that anyway. There were few people who ever came here, fewer even to come here in the future. He was roughly 500 meters away from the bar right now, though its sign could still be seen. It seemed that the barkeep decided to do a longer shift tonight.

It didn`t matter. Right now, all of this was turning into something meaningless, a memory for the future, bleak and old and yet beautiful in its own right.

As he took another step, he noticed the noise in the air.  
It seemed like it was nearly time. He rolled up his sleeve. The warm feeling of his black coat immediately replaced with the fresh air on his skin. A quick glance to his watch. 9:14 o`clock. As he turned his attention towards the bar once again, the sun finally showed its face.

An eruption of pure anger, hatred and destruction rampaged all that he saw from here, the light of the explosion as blinding to the eyes as it could get. Were he still human, he would have lost his sight by now. The fireball expanded, seemingly ever further, encompassing more and more of the terrified and then eradicated souls of the people around it.

As the shockwave of the explosion reached the bar, it was thrown to pieces faster than what he had anticipated.  
“So much for memories”, he stated, his voice hoarser than what he had expected.  
A smile tugged at his lips. The drinks in that bar had always managed to surprise him after all.

It was seconds before the shockwave would reach him, blow him into pieces, grant him a swift and merciless death. And then it hit him.

As it passed through him, he started to notice the lights.

The shockwave was now behind him, continuing on its destructive purpose. It had been quick enough, he thought with a hint of amusement behind it.  
The was a scratch on his face, small but noticeable thanks to the blood now dripping from it. It closed itself off almost immediately.

Had he remained in the mortal world, then would the shockwave have killed him, he honestly questioned himself. It probably wouldn`t have. He was as unkillable as a human could get. Well, human would probably be the wrong term in his case though.  
He was still standing at the very same place he was just moments ago, albeit not in the same realm anymore.

Just before the shockwave had reached, or maybe as it reached him, considering the small cut, he had slipped into the next deeper layer of the “Abyssal Realms”.

While they were very much like earth in size and appearance, they were as much removed from it, as the earth was from the sun. Still held together, but no matter what you did, you just couldn`t influence anything on this side from the other and vice versa.  
Were there any humans left in the immediate area to look at him, they would probably get the shock of their lives. After all, right now he would look like a ghost to them. Transparent and unbothered by any form of walls and such. Well, he was by definition in another dimension right now, so it made sense if you thought about it.

The lights came back.  
They twirled around him in a strange but subtle dance that had reminded him often times of old Chinese traditional dances. He had grown to like them, when he had visited the country 30 years prior.

The lights came in all colors, looked like polar lights, but were anywhere from ground level up to such heights, that they would scrape against space.  
He often watched them, if they showed themselves, which was rare and only within this particular realm. There was another, where they originated from though: the 30th layer of the Abyssal Realms – the Pantheon of the gods.  
As far as he knew, the lights only appeared because some god had decided to travel for a bit, breaking apart the dimensional barriers and thus allowing the light to travel here.

He didn`t mind it, obviously, nor would he be able to do anything about it. Sometimes he wished he could though. Gods and Deities in general could be major pain to deal with. And since he didn`t possess any form of “divine element” he couldn`t even harm them.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
“divine element” – also called “Divinity” ; a being/ object with divine element can be  
only be harmed by another being/ object that possesses divine  
element. No matter how much more powerful you are, if you don`t  
have it, you can’t defeat someone who does.  
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

That didn’t mean that he had no way of stopping them though. A few well-placed divine tools – which he very much did possess – and even deities were at his mercy.  
Of course, so long as he could overpower them. Which wasn`t easy to say the least. In terms of pure strength he was most likely equal to the higher ranking ones, but when it came to primordial gods or creator-gods….  
He chose not to think about it. 

As he looked back towards the fireball, he noticed it had vanished, leaving behind nothing but a huge mushroom-cloud that reached high in the air. He had seen it before, was present during the first tests of the weapon, after it was built and was nearly knocked out from one of the blasts, when he had underestimated its strength by a long shot as he witnessed it the first time.

There was nothing but ash left around him, trees were cut, no longer even findable he presumed. There were no bodies left to bury, no houses to rebuild, nothing that indicated the presence of civilization.  
There was but an eerie silence, unchanging, unnatural.

He didn`t like it.

He returned to where the bar had existed just a few minutes ago still. He crouched down, his long coat dripping into the dust and ash, as he once again entered the human world. Anyone beside him would have been knocked over by the sheer amount of radiation in this place, but he wasn’t human anymore. Radiation couldn’t kill him.  
Albeit that didn’t mean, it wouldn’t harm him.

He already prepared himself mentally for a round of… probably not all that nice time spent on regenerating his inner organs.

They were still here, the souls of the people, and they would remain. Unable to move on, forced to linger beneath the unexpected horror that had killed them.

A slight motion of his hand was all that was necessary.  
Four simplistic gravestones appeared out of nowhere and placed themselves into the ground right in front of him. On them appeared the names of the four people, that had still been inside the bar when it was destroyed.

Aside from the barkeep, he recognized no one.

Their souls started to fidget, to fight against the pull of the world, but it wasn’t enough to release them quite yet, he noticed.  
“May you all pass on to the world beyond, into the shadow lands of the dead.”, he said. “May your entrance be granted by the authority of the eternal emperor…”  
He rarely ever used his authority over the dead and the living, so why did he now?  
“… , for I - Yohan Lee – shall be your guide.”  
His voice remained steady throughout the whole ceremony.

He watched with content as the souls managed to wiggle themselves free and ascended to the heavens. May they all rest in peace, he thought to himself.

A gush of wind hit his head, threw his brown locks into his left eye. He turned around, but saw nothing. Wind was usually not something that you felt within the explosion area of a nuke, after the shockwave hit you. At least not directly. In a split second he once again entered the next layer of the Abyssal Realms.

There were even more lights now than there had been before. It seemed like some of them were watching, it dawned upon him. Of course they would. Whenever humans invented something, whenever there was a world-changing event, at least one deity could be found observing.

He just hoped, that they were indifferent to the new weapon, maybe fascinated, but nothing else. The last thing he would need right now, was a dark god intent on punishing humanity for the use of their nukes. As shocking as they were, they meant nothing to a being that couldn’t be harmed by anything that wasn’t divine. And those bombs sure as hell weren’t. And as long as it wasn’t a primordial god, among which there was an alarming number of dark gods, he might be able to deal with them.

He abandoned the possibility as soon as it had appeared in his mind.  
There were no hostile presences around after all.

He looked down at himself, his grey shirt had gotten dusty, as were his shoes, his coat and his white trousers. Of all days, he had to wear white today. He cursed himself mentally. Seems like he will have to take a new set of clothing out of his cabinet.

He turned around, distanced himself from the gravestones and lifted his right hand. At least the ring he wore on his index-finger hadn’t gotten all dusty.

He made a small hand sign and a portal formed itself before him. Its blue-ish swirling energies made it look like what most people imagined when they heard the word portal: round, swirling energy, can take you somewhere else. All fit the description, just that you couldn’t see through it. It didn’t matter, he knew where it went, he had created it after all. As he stepped through, he left the mortal world behind and returned to the one place he had so long been away from.

If only he had paid more attention to his surroundings then…

\------------------------------------------ Character-File -------------------------------------------  
Name: Lee Yohan  
Age: 237 years ( Immortal )  
Race: Ageless ( formerly human )  
Titles: “Emperor of the Eternal Palace”  
“The Eternal Emperor”  
Level: S+  
Abilities: \- Energy Manipulation  
\- Element Manipulation (Fire, Water, Earth, Air)  
\- Space Warping  
\- “Eternal Authority”  
\- “Warrior’s Battleground Lv.4”  
\- “Roses of Blood”  
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


	3. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that it took a bit until i released this chapter, but i had my hans full with some stuff.  
> Nonetheless, i hope yyou enjoy :)

As Yohan walked trough the Portal he was greeted almost immediately by the lovely fragrance of tea. He had left some behind on his desk, he remembered. He left it there 5 years ago though. At any other place, it would have spoiled, here though it would continue to be fine even after a few decades.

Though he didn’t really like the thought of drinking 5-year-old tea, no matter how resistant the tea was to change.

It didn’t matter. He could just wave his hand and there would be a new cup of tea having replaced the current. So, he did just that. Within seconds the cup before him vanished and was replaced with another almost identical one.

The one thing that gave it away, that it was another cup however was the new fragrance that began to seemingly flood the room.

He took the cup and took a sip. It tasted like winter. A tiny bit of cinnamon nourished the warm and hot flavor of the chili that made up the main part of the tea. He had always liked it that way, hot and spicy, but with a small portion of sweetness that gave his tongue just the right amount of stimulation to ignore the burning hotness in the back of his throat.

He took the cup with him, as he walked to the left side of the room, a wall made of skillfully decorated glass stretching before him, granting view of the height he was at.

His bureau, if you wanted to call it that was on the 165th floor of the Eternal Palace.  
He never understood though, why the palace had to be this big in the first place…  
It wasn’t like anyone beside him was residing in it. Well, there was his “butler”, who was more or less just a manifestation of the palace itself, meant to guide him and help him with his requirements.

Even after more than 200 years of being the Eternal Emperor, he wasn’t even close to having visited all rooms within the palace. There was no need to. And the chance of just looking into one as he passed by towards another room also did not exist. The palace bent itself around the thoughts of the people within it, so long as they were welcome that is. Simply put, if he thought that any given room within the palace was behind any given door, then it was. He could even alter the shape of the palace, if required.

It wasn’t. And the one time that he tried had proven, that it was far to consuming of his power to undertake such a step.

The windows before him lit up as the sun showed its face and moved aside the clouds in the sky. Yohan had forgotten how majestic it could look. The nearly perfect and everlasting dawn in this dimension always gave a beautiful sunrise. It had been the right decision to move the palace here.

Yes, it truly was.  
And though they were deep within the Abyssal Realms, the 27th realm in fact, it was still the most beautiful place available that hadn’t already been claimed by any of the monster races. They were a bother to most. But since most certainly not all of them were malevolent in nature, some peaceful in fact, Yohan mostly ignored them.

He tended not to engage with the worlds he was in. It was as much disinterest, as it was caution. As Eternal Emperor he held a lot of responsibility, though it certainly didn’t seem like it. He chuckled. No, it really didn’t.

But still, he was chosen by the palace to be the next emperor, when his mentor and friend had passed away.

“Remain hopeful, keep on… laughing and smiling.”, his mentor had said. “Go among the people. Try not to watch but to walk. I’m sure you will be able to.” The sound of his breath ad vanished and his body had turned to ash. There had been nothing that Yohan could have done, but still… Whenever the memory rose to the surface it hit him like it did when he had experienced it first time. It wasn’t pretty, wasn’t beautiful. Nothing of it seemed like something worth experiencing.

And yet here he was, breathing, but not laughing, watching but not walking. The was the occasional interference of this loop of course, but nothing lasting. It never had been and probably never would be.

Yohan turned his head to the right, towards his desk. It was as unclean as when he had left. Enormous amounts of papers were thrown onto it, some were marked in certain places, other were full of unlucky accidents that were mainly caused by ink. He smiled.

Seeing of how unchanging everything here was, gave him reassurance. The reassurance that he too, would be unchanging. That he would remain a nice and loving person. That wouldn’t become evil or wicked. It was the one thing he could not allow to happen under any circumstance. For if he did….

He threw the thought right outside the window. It was absurd to even consider him turning into something twisted. He had managed to endure for 200 years. He had seen people he held dear die and vanish. Several time at that. And if that hadn’t made him crazy, then nothing could.  
He pulled the chair that he himself had bought from a Chinese vendor, sat down and pulled himself towards the desk. The chair would have probably counted as antiquity anywhere else, in here though, nothing really ever changed. Literally nothing did.

“Where should I begin?”, he asked himself. His voice luckily didn’t sound as hoarse anymore as it had a few minutes ago. The news of the nuke surely would be interesting to look at. The reactions would be greatly divided, at least he hoped so, for it meant that humans still had a sense of what was too much.

He decided on one of the smaller mountains of paper to his left. He began sorting them. There was all sorts of different stuff in here. You could find anything from how to cook a simple soup to answers of questions that you didn’t even know you had.

All thanks to the palace’s library, he recalled. It possessed a large portion of the entire knowledge of the worlds. Not to mention, that it didn’t even begin to compare to the Eternal Library. So if he ever truly had to find something out, he could just task his butler with it and chances were nearly 100% that he would get a few pages on the topic that he requested a few minutes later.

It was probably the most secure and most dangerous pot of knowledge ever to exist.

He finished sorting the stack of paper, put it aside on a neatly decorated side table and took the next stack directly in front of him.

This time it mostly contained knowledge of ow to treat injuries, all sorts. From small cuts to heart transplants and regrowing lost limbs.  
It reminded Yohan, that he still had to undergo a round of regeneration. He sighed. Better to just get it over with, before his body forced him to do it.

He stood up and walked to one of the two couches in the middle of the room. They were facing each other, a small Chinese style table in between, and were each large enough for four people. Or for one greedy person to take a nap…

Yohan laid down and tried to find a comfortable position. He wasn’t used to sleeping anymore. He didn’t have to undergo the daily process ever since he had become immortal. It still was a refreshing experience from time to time though. And it certainly helped his body relax.

As he wiggled around, he suddenly found a good sleeping posture. So he stayed that way, hoping it would be good enough to force him into the sweet relaxation.

It did.  
And for the first time in what felt like forever, Yohan once again had a dream.  
Yohan walked down a long hallway, seemingly never-ending. It weren’t the palace’s hallways. At least not the ones he had seen before. Nonetheless, he couldn’t stop himself from walking.

Might as well, he thought. There was nothing else to do here. The walls were grey and even the world beyond the windows seemed grey and unimportant. As if nothing out there was of any importance.

‘It isn’t.’

Yes, it isn’t. He agreed wholeheartedly. Even if he went outside from time to time, took a look at the state the world was in, he always came back here. To a place, unaffected by time. 

‘It doesn’t matter.’

It doesn’t. It really does not. All that counted was that he upheld his own morals. It was the one thing he could do, the one thing he had to do. Yohan was the eternal emperor after all. Unchanging, eternal. Just as the name implied. He was meant to stop anything else from interrupting the delicate balance between earth and the Abyssal Realms.

‘Why?’

It was obvious, wasn’t it!? He already knew why, because….  
Yohan stopped in his tracks. What was that just now?  
What was that voice that seemingly interrupted his own thoughts like it was nothing.  
Whom did it belong to?

‘To me, of course.’

Who are you?

‘I’ve always been here, with you. I’m there wherever you go. And I’ll never leave.’

How do you know me? Why are you following me? Why me?

‘Because you are eternal. Just as I. I was there when humans still used sticks and stones. I was there when you were born, when you died, and when you were reborn as the eternal emperor.’

Slowly but surely the voice started to change its sound. It was old, ancient in fact, had much more of a presence than Yohan had.

Why have I never perceived you before. You claim you were there all this time, yet never, not even once have I noticed. How is that supposed to be… What is your name?

‘My name changes with every new age, you wouldn’t recognize it. Even your precious libraries don’t know of me. No one does. Hence, why you haven’t seen me yet. But now you can hear me. You can hear me. And you will continue to do so.’

The voice increased in volume with every second passed.  
It wasn’t pleasant.

‘I will always be here for I have seen. I have seen what humans did, just as you have. I have seen their character, smelled their intentions, tasted their essence. It wasn’t a nice experience. You feel the same.’

No.

‘You know you do.’

No!

‘We shall see.’

Just as Yohan lost his hold on the dream, the voice turned into something malevolent, destructive and purely evil. Something that was, for a lack of better word, unwanted by creation and abused by perception.

It truly didn’t feel like something that anyone would want.  
Perhaps that was why it would turn out like that…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this part.  
> Also, if you would like to give feedback or have some suggestions, then please do so :)


	4. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the plot is finally starting to shape up, i hope you enjoy :)

Yohan emerged from his sleep in the most unwanted way. He fell of the couch and managed to somehow elbow the table. His arm hurt. It was kind of annoying to still feel such meager pain when he was immortal, he thought.

As he grabbed the edge of the table to help himself up, he remembered. A flash of his dream before his eyes. The voice that had become more and more malevolent with each passing moment.

It sent shivers down his spine – for the first time in nearly 70 years, he was frightened.

He had never met a being with such a malevolent aura before, had never seen such purely evil intentions. Even the most wicked of deities did not compare to whatever had spoken to him. Hence, why he became even more concerned after he ruled out all of the potential candidates among the dark gods. None of them were similar in presence to what he had felt. Not even close.

Who was it then? Wo had the ability to push through the eternal palace’s defenses and enter his mind, while Yohan was asleep?

The very fact that someone had been able to talk to him while he was inside the palace’s walls was already concern enough for him to ring all the alarm bells inside his head.

Not only was the palace in a nearly completely abandoned portion of the Abyssal Realms, but it was also undetectable by any being aside from the eternal emperor. Further, even if someone had the ability to locate it, then the palace’s defenses would be too strong for them. He had seen it before.

Even the mightiest of gods, to which Yohan could only glance but not threaten, the palace was completely inaccessible. The shielding around it was far to ancient after all, far too powerful.

So how could have someone…  
A realization dawned within the back of Yohan’s mind. 

No. No, it couldn’t be. It was impossible, utterly absurd to even consider it a viable possibility, and yet…

“Lin!”, Yohan called firmly. It wasn’t loud, but it didn’t have to be. After only a few moments, the door to his room opened and a woman came inside. From her looks, she appeared to be roughly 70 years old, maybe older. Well, she certainly was far, far older. Much more so than even Yohan.

But nonetheless, Yohan was caught off guard. For the simple reason, that Lin had been a man of similar age, when he had last seen him.

Lin looked at Yohan with a warm smile. The kind of smile, that only a very loving and experienced person could offer someone.  
Yohan liked it very much.

As he returned the gesture, she approached him, gave him a once-over and then pulled him into a hug. Yohan gladly reciprocated it.  
She was warm and smelled a bit like the ocean. Fair enough, when he had last seen Lin, she – or he in that case – had been a very passionate swimmer. A service that was in fact offered in one of the lower levels of the palace.

Yohan couldn’t say, he had never had the felt the urge to go swimming for himself, but he was usually just occupied by all the reports of monster incursions on earth, that he had barely any time left for luxuries. It was kind of regrettable, but he knew that keeping people safe came before his own luxury.

Lin pulled away from the hug and smiled at Yohan. She wore what seemed like some sort of cathedral clothing, somewhat similar to what the pope wore. It was still different enough to evoke an entirely different feeling to it. It was probably the earthly colors that were responsible for it. Moreover, they blended perfectly with her grey, brownish hair. 

“Its been far too long”, she started, “what can I do for you, master?”

Yohan had never liked the fact, that she called him master. Lin was the living incarnation of the eternal palace, so Yohan could see why he was called master, but still…he didn’t like it.

“Come on, you know I told you before to just call me comfortably.”, he responded with a calm voice.

“And you know just as well, that you very much are the reason why I am existing. Without the eternal emperor, I too, would cease to exist. As would the palace itself.”

She was right of course. So he smiled. Not because of amusement, he realized, but simply because he had missed the company she provided him with. The two of them had developed quite the bond ever since Yohan had been crowned as the next emperor. Well, not exactly crowned… More like, killed, then transformed and then brought back to life. 

It sure as hell wasn’t a pretty experience. And he certainly wouldn’t go through it ever again! 

“So? Why did you call me, Yohan?” He instantly felt far more comfortable in this way than when she called him master. He should probably keep in mind, that Lin liked to tease him beyond relief. For whatever reason that is.

“Is there any way to slip into my dreams and talk with me from outside the palace?”  
Yohan didn’t like beating around the bush, nor was it necessary. If anything, it was a potential security risk to the palace and all it stood for.

“There isn’t”, she answered. “No matter how powerful they might be, they would still be unable to slip past the palace’s defenses. They’re just too old to be simply bypassed.”, she explained. Which unfortunately meant, that his second and very much unwanted guess was suddenly becoming far more pressing.

“What if that being was already inside the palace?”, he asked.”

“They would most likely be capable of entering your mind. But it is utterly impossible for someone aside from you to enter the palace. And I am also 100 percent sure, that there was no one even coming close to the palace’s shield.”

It wasn’t good, Yohan thought. If this was the case, then he was potentially faced with a truth, that could end up being dangerous to say the least.

“What if they always were inside the palace?”, he asked, hoping for her to say, that it would be impossible.

She didn’t. he merely considered the possibility and then nodded.

“It might be possible”, she stated, “it is very unlikely however, given the fact that they must have been here for more than 4000 years already. If they were, and still are, then they’re probably in the underground city. It’s the only place that is detached enough from the palace that I do not have complete authority there, yet is still close enough to keep up with the rest of the palace.”

Great, Yohan thought. Not only might they have an a-few-millennia old invader, but they were also hiding in the underground city. Of all places within the palace, Yohan hated nothing more than having to go there.

He truly und utterly hated that place.

The underground palace was the place, where all of the previous eternal emperors were resting. The presence in there was usually moody in the best of cases and utterly destructive in best.

If someone or something was hiding there, then they were probably feeding on the presence that the souls down there still possessed. It wasn’t a nice thing to see.

But if anything annoyed Yohan more than anything else, then it was the fact, that there was a being in the palace, that he knew nothing about, had never encountered before and was now trying to manipulate Yohan’s own thoughts as well as his judgement.

He despised it.

Lin had apparently felt Yohan’s slight annoyance and was now trying to feed him with tea. When she gave him his cup, completely full once again, Yohan took it gladly. He took a sip and was immediately able to relax more.

He had to remain calm. He knew nothing about the being down there, knew not if it was divine or not, nor did he know what exactly it was in the first place.

Not much to go with, the thought. He told Lin all he knew, after which she went to the library to check if there truly wasn’t anything that could shed light on their problem.

Yohan in turn decided to go for a walk. There was a large open area on the 80th floor. It was perfect to calm down and to relax, exactly what he needed right now. So Yohan stepped through the door of his bureau and imagined what lied beyond. And voila, he was there. Only a few meters away from the open area.

The palace truly was a wonderous thing, especially the way that he could just go anywhere within it by thinking about that location. Nonetheless, it was at times very much confusing and there had been a few instances when he had actually not arrived where he had wanted, but somewhere else entirely.  
The view granted onto the world below from up here was truly magnificent. The mountains around the palace provided Yohan with a sense of security. The sun, that shone through one of the interruptions within the mountainous landscape gave it all a very unique light, that made it seem like the sky was bleeding. It was a beautiful mixture of crimson, yellow and orange.

Yohan liked it here, but there was another place that he preferred. It was somewhat hidden, and you couldn’t reach it in a normal fashion.  
He slightly levitated himself off the ground. Making himself float took little more than releasing his own power, of which there was plenty. So he could use his power however he pleased even when afloat.

He directed himself towards one of the many towers that laid a bit above the plaza.  
It only took a few seconds for him to get there. As always, the trip felt like the wind was carrying him. In a manner of speaking, that was very much what he did when floating.

He landed slowly on the very much diagonal roof of the tower and carefully placed his feet on it. The outer walls of the palace were built almost completely with quartz, shining metals and dark wood, all of which blended together to create an enormous construction of pure light reflection.

It really did reflect the light cast on it. So much so, that the palace, when it had still been on earth, had been called the “palace of light”. It was as good a name as any, Yohan believed. Over the ages there had been many iterations and names that were created solely to attempt creating a name descriptive enough to visualize the palace in a few words.

A few words would never be enough to describe the true beauty of the palace. For once you saw it, you would never again find something that you could find just as beautiful.

As Yohan raised his head towards the sun in the distance, he heard a slight “woosh” behind him.

When he looked over his shoulder, he saw Lin standing there with a serious expression. She never wore any expression such as this. So Yohan immediately dropped any kind of admiration he had for the view in front of him and instead lifted himself in the air, slightly above the tower – it was easier to hover than to stand on a roof from which you could potentially glide down from unwillingly.

When he met Lin’s facial expression again, it was an expression of worry. Yet another expression she never wore. As she opened her mouth, Yohan truly hoped, she would tell him that she had been wrong, that there was no way, that something was existing down in the palace aside from them.

“I found something.”, she started. “It’s old, very old in fact. Roughly 3400 years. The eternal emperor of that time made an entrance in his note.”

As she handed Yohan the book, he took it out of her hand with a feeling of dread creeping up his shoulders. On the page she wanted him to see, was only a single sentence of which only a small part was still readable.

“…have contained it inside the palace…”

Well. Shit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so the next chapter will come on monday.  
> I wish you a happy weekend until then :)


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